That was the message I got from Vin as I finished my breakfast. My benefactor rarely contacted me, and even in our interaction when they visited some weeks ago, Vin didn’t talk much. After talking with Belenus, I did try searching more about them, back when Vin and Styx were high in the ranks. But just like the man had said, all I found were rumors.
Though some of those rumors were quite…interesting.
Like the ones saying Vin was not a normal human.
I drank the rest of the milk, grabbing my bag in a rush. As I closed the front door behind me, there was still half a bread in my hand.
There was no need for me to raise my gaze to know those purple eyes was fixed on me.
“…can’t bring you today either, sorry. You wouldn’t like it either way, trust me.” Since I was practically locking myself in the libraries every day, if I brought Styx to Ergos he would stay locked in a cage in their stables for the entire day, almost.
Yet the dragon’s gaze did not stop following me, regardless.
“Tomorrow! There’s the interclass event. Then next week I have T.E.A.R.S and also Practical Flight, so hold on a bit longer.”
With the corner of my eye, I could see Styx up the tree branch—his tail swinging at a slow pace, side to side. But as I made my way to the entrance gate, never once did I actually meet the dragon’s gaze. Not for the past weeks.
Almost six months.
That was the time Styx and I had been riding together—training, racing, watching one another. There were many perceptive and cunning creatures, like griffins, manticores, and nymphs. Yet dragons were considered to be the most astute of them all. Their senses keen, their instincts faultless. Just as I had learned many things about Styx, he had also learned many about me.
…and somehow, I was hesitant to meet his eyes. To have those rich, violet gems reaching for my core and stripping my soul bare.
It was not out of fear but a sense of shame. Of not wanting to see exactly what he thought of me after the incident with Ceres, especially when I had yet to prove my true worth to him. That moment, it was a moment of weakness. Something a rider who wished to compete at the StarWing Race had no luxury of being.
Tomorrow, I will show him. I will show them.
The value in my name—in the sweat and blood I’ve spilled until now.
Kosa. One of the biggest racing gear manufacturers in the kingdom, part of the Merchants Guild. Yet more than that, they were known for their internship programs for aspiring riders and artisans. Paid internships. If there were a Kosa’s representative attending the event, I had to make a good impression on them.
I had to win big, and get to participate in the Royale Rush.
Today, the classes would cast their votes on who should be the three representatives for each challenge. The final results were going to be revealed tomorrow, before the event began, yet there was one Challenge I knew I would take, regardless of my total points.
And that Challenge could get me expelled.
So instead of attending Professor Arke’s class, I went to the Archive Room—the place where Ergos kept their recordings of past races. I had no idea how much the academy had paid in total, yet they had recordings not only from the most famous races in history, such as StarWing, but also of exclusive races undisclosed to the general public.
However, while I was not expecting the space to be as crowded as it was, what surprised me most—
“Oh. Vex…”
Was seeing Ceres there.
Alongside Jaya and Liber.
“What are you doing here?”
While Ceres was the first one who spoke, the boy was the first who locked eyes with me—the one I spoke to—yet the person who replied was the tall man sitting between the two.
“They came to train their eyes! I’m simply tagging along, though. It’s been a while, friend, we’ve missed you.” Jaya’s voice was warm, bright. Yet his blue eyes did not share their usual glow and glee.
I suppressed a laugh, knowing I wouldn’t be able to conceal its dryness and mockery. My eyes met the boy’s once again. “Didn’t think you would skip an Alchemy class.”
The kid didn’t suppress his laughter, however, much less its cold tune. “You think I would leave my studies for the last day like a brainless fool?”
No, I thought it was your favorite class.
Yet before I could reply, a weak and faint voice reached me. One that was at the same time incredibly familiar, and almost unrecognizable.
“They actually came because of me…” Ceres’ smile was lifeless, broken, hollow. A poor shadow of the one I was used to as the girl’s gaze shifted toward me, apologetic. “There’s something I wanted to see. Although…I’m pretty sure it won’t make a difference.”
As I watched her, my chest felt tight. Stifling.
I looked away. “Well, good luck. Tomorrow will be quite demanding.”
Just when I was stepping away, Jaya stood up from his seat—his voice hopeful and almost urgent.
“Aren’t you going to sit with us? I don’t think there are any other seats available.”
…fuck.
He was right.
Though the circular room was quite spacious, practically all the tables were full. Most students were seniors or sophomores, so it made sense why they had chosen to leave this table alone.
My only reply was a curt nod, dropping my bag in the chair before I made my way to the shelves. Shelves filled with silver liquid flask, the dim light in the room reflecting the metal with a faint glow. It didn’t take long to find the section I was searching for, the plaques and titles big enough to see no matter where you were.
Once I found the recordings I wanted, I wrote their serial codes in my black crystal, waiting for the similar crystal on top of the shelf to start glowing, its mana swirling and changing colors. When it finally settled on green, I stepped away.
Even when all tables were spread out in the center of the room, with three lines of shelves circling the room, it didn’t take me three seconds to spot my group.
Jaya was that tall.
To my relief, no one said anything as I pulled my chair. Neither did they ask me what recordings I had picked, nor anything else. Instead, a silence settled between us—one that was thick, delicate, pained. A silence I embraced, without ever glancing to the sides.
Maybe it’s best to watch the StarWing’s 6th Edition. Morr kept referencing it during the electives all the time.
Only after I poured and activated the silver on the table did I notice the recording time. It was almost an hour long.
How much Ergos’ had spent on these…?
To be able to save a recording for more than a few minutes, an alchemist was needed. That, and very expensive components, in order to trigger the right reactions. The longer the recording, the more expensive the modifications would be.
And an hour-long recording was simply insane.
Before my brain started calculating how much those recording had cost, I forced myself to focus on what mattered. The races. I got some paper sheets and ink, stopping the recording every now and then to take notes or read previous analyzes made by professors and other riders.
I had no idea how much time passed. How, at some point, the room became more vacant. The world around me, at that point, was just the recording and myself. The one sound I could hear was my own scribing, my own breathing.
Yet as time passed, when I was about to start the third recording, something broke the hardened silence I had isolated myself in. A sound that was so faint—so soft and weak—I could’ve missed it. I could’ve pretended I didn’t hear it. However, before I had a say in it, my eyes shifted of their own volition.
Toward the blond girl hugging her knees in the chair, watching a recording motionless.
Weeping.
“…I haven’t shown him to my family yet. Connie.”
Whether she realized we were watching and decided to speak, or I had been too focused to pay attention before, I couldn’t tell. Ceres’ tears fell at their own pace, not bothering to conceal their sorrow. Yet her voice, it was an echo. A shadow.
One that carried a semblance of those tears, yet that had something else surpassing their ache. Something I knew well—enough to recognize it in a heartbeat. Something that made my own heart throb and flinch with the memory.
Shame.
“I thought I could do it. Be worthy of my name, of the things it carries. And maybe, I thought…I thought they could see me for me.” Her voice cracked at the end, the girl biting her lips hard as the tears fell faster, her eyes becoming redder, heavier. “…but…but even if my family rejected me, I th-I thought at least…at least I had Connie. But I don’t, do I? I have nothing.”
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
What was once a graceful weeping became sobs and soft wails, Ceres trying to muffle her voice and failing to do it well as she scrubbed her sleeves again and again across her eyes, shoulders shaking.
Jaya pulled her into a hug, one Ceres did not reciprocate as her body became smaller as if she wanted to disappear. Even then, Jaya didn’t let go.
“This is not true, not true at all.” His voice was a whisper, yet it held so much warmth and affection within, it almost made me look away. “You have me. You have your friends.”
Only then, after Jaya pushed the recording Ceres was watching aside, as it spun and turned toward me, did I paid enough attention to notice. To realize what kind of races the girl had been watching.
Which were no races at all, but memories.
Of her siblings, her cousins, her family. People who proudly carried and displayed House Lanikas’ crest, people whose dragons had been featured more than once in news, brands, shows. Recordings made not by professionals or Ergos, but the Lanikas family themselves.
In their own estates, their own events, their own homes.
Ceres finally pulled away from the hug, a cracked smile trying to form on her lips as she attempted to regain her voice. “Th-thank you, truly. But…friends won’t make my dragon. They won’t actually make me belong here.”
Before Jaya could reply, before he could even open his mouth, Ceres’ eyes moved. Shimmering with tears, flooding with heartache. And when they stopped, her gaze locked not on Jaya or the recording—
But me.
“Isn’t that so?”
Something gelid dropped deep down in my stomach. Something that almost made me lose my breath.
Yes, that’s right.
That’s what I wanted to reply. What I was going to reply.
But I didn’t. I couldn’t.
I knew how true those words were. How they would always be. Yet hearing Ceres say them, somehow…it felt wrong. Even when I knew how naive and foolish people like Jaya and Ceres were with their beliefs and reasonings, hearing her say that…
It was just wrong.
Why do I think it’s wrong?
Why I don’t want Ceres to think like this?
I blinked. I opened my mouth.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Then turned toward the boy with a quill in his hand, the feather never stopping moving.
“Come on now, Liber…” Jaya’s words were torn between a plea and a disapproval. Yet the kid didn’t even bat an eye.
“Kindness won’t help either. Not when our world is the way it is, and if you think otherwise, then that’s on you.” Liber’s tone was raw, almost apathetic. Yet underneath its coldness, there was a numbness. A tiredness.
Something that, once again, I could recognize in a heartbeat.
Jaya opened his mouth, yet before he let out his voice, there was a faint whisper—one that carried words that appeared to be just as tired and numb.
“I think…I will stop. Trying to be someone I’m not, trying to fit somewhere I don’t belong. I will just stop.”
Ceres’ eyes were focused on the recording, yet somehow it didn’t seem they were looking at it. Watching it. Whatever her gaze was focused on, however, made those tears stop. Made the glow in her eyes fade away completely, until there was not even an echo remaining.
“Ergos only wants the best of the best, and…that’s not me. Not when it takes so much just to be barely good enough.”
A chill ran down my spine, crawling its way toward my heart, making it tremble and forget how to beat for a second.
“Ceres…this is not true. You are—”
Before Jaya could finish, the girl stood up and put away the liquid silver back in its flask. Her fingers shaking. Her skin pale.
“It’s almost time for the voting. I’ll see you two in class.”
Something painful crossed the man’s face. An affliction, a sorrow, perhaps guilty. I could tell he wanted to go after her, yet I wasn’t sure why Jaya never left his seat. Not until Ceres was long gone from our sight. And even for someone from his size, as Jaya stood up, he barely made a sound.
“…if Professor Arke asks for me, tell her I may be a little late.”
Then it became just me and Liber at the table, the boy not raising his eyes a single time. And for some reason I was hesitant to turn my eyes toward his. For our gazes to meet, for me to see a mirror of my own thoughts and reflections.
This is Ergos. This is what Ergos does.
It crushed its students again and again, until only a very few remained on their feet.
“Guess you will have to find another good place to train.”
Liber’s words held no malice, no mockery, no insult. They shared the same cold nature and harsh reality we lived in, a raw candidness I have lived beside throughout my entire life.
So why did it bother me?
“Yeah. It seems that way.”
Why did this reality suddenly taste way more bitter than usual?
Be civil.
Be concise.
Be logical.
Those were the words written on the blackboard, in Hesper’s elegant handwriting. At first I didn’t understand why she had underlined so much the three sentences. After all, even if the process itself was tedious—given how every student had to state the Challenges they wanted to enroll, and provide the reasons why they should represent the class.
A very simple concept.
One that, apparently, the very opinionated uppercity folks couldn’t grasp that well.
“You want to represent us for Practical Flight? Did you fall during training and hit your head too hard?”
“Are you talking about yourself now? My grades are better than yours.”
“What are you two talking about? You both suck.”
Which eventually forced Professor Arke to put a timer, just so our “debates” wouldn’t last longer than fifteen minutes.
Per student.
It’s like each one of them thinks they are on the road to becoming a Diamond Wing just because this is Ergos…
Sure, there were some people in the class who were talented enough to even get my attention. But whenever they were compared to real, raw talent—riders like Liber or Alantra Harris—their arguments became delusional jokes they had to be telling themselves just to cope with reality.
Of course, not every single student was like that. And those were the ones I tolerated a bit better.
“I want to participate in the History, Alchemy, and Taming Challenges. I believe I will do well.”
The boy spoke with a soft and low voice, his eyes averting any kind of eye contact. Yet there was no shyness.
There was confidence.
“What was your score in the last exams?” A young woman asked, one who appeared to be closer to my age.
“I ranked in the top five for all three of them. You would know if you paid attention to the lists.”
The woman clenched her jaw, yet said nothing else. And every single question others threw at him, the boy replied in the same way and tone. I was amazed by how he managed to speak words like these without even a hint of condescension or arrogance. Just as simple facts, in a way as if to make people feel stupid or offended for not knowing.
He and Liber would have some fun conversations…
As minutes dragged themselves in a slow, tedious dance, I watched as my row got closer. How my turn got closer. Liber was sitting in front of me, so he would go first. Yet our row was the last one from the left. Beside us, there were Jaya and Ceres.
And Jaya's turn was next.
Arke Hesper let out a short sigh as she adjusted her glasses, focusing on the empty chair. “Anyone cares to clarify where your classmate is?”
“He said he was going to be late.”
Arke’s eyes shifted to Liber, the smallest hint of curiosity crossing her gaze. “It’s been almost three hours since class started.”
The boy replied with a shrug, not taking his eyes out of his book—his voice as nonchalant as ever. “He didn’t seem interested in participating in any of the Challenges. You can confirm with him later.”
“No…it’s fine.” She closed her eyes, massaging her temples for a few seconds. “If he’s not here to declare it himself, then I will not put his name on the list. It’s as simple as that.”
…professors have to deal with this every year?
I almost felt sorry for Arke.
Professor Hesper’s eyes moved to the next student, the girl who sat right in front of Jaya.
“Your time already started.”
Ceres continued to stare at her lap—at the hands that kept moving and playing lifelessly with a liquid silver flask. Her eyes were no longer red, and there were no more tears wetting her face. Still, there was a faint cry echoing in her voice.
“…actually…for this event, I don’t think I will…”
There was a loud bang as someone practically stumbled inside, a tall man with dark skin and ashen hair. A man who carried a small leather bag on his shoulder.
“Oh, storms—forgive me, Professor! Didn’t mean to barge in like this. I-is the voting still going?”
There was a long, tired sigh. “Unfortunately, yes…”
Jaya’s smile widened. “Great! Did everyone for—”
“Please take your seat, you are taking your colleague’s time…”
Without asking or saying much else, the man rushed to his chair, sitting down with some kind of urgent haste. His hand searching into his bag almost immediately.
Arke Hesper turned back to Ceres, without saying a single word. Waiting. Expecting.
The girl bit down her lip, her body shrinking as if she were uncomfortable. Ashamed. “As…as I was saying, for this year…no, actually, about Ergos, I don’t think I will…”
There was a tap on her shoulder.
Before Ceres could turn, Jaya’s hand was there—right across her face, something hanging from its grasp. A golden necklace.
A necklace that had a pendant with the letter ‘C’. Yet the pendant, it shone with a different light. It was not metal, not leather, not anything I could name. Yet its color, its glow…it was too familiar.
Ceres let out a soft gasp, her eyes widening. “What is…”
“You gave us some of Connie’s scales a while back. Said it could give us luck, right?”
Both Ceres and I froze, our eyes slowly turning to Jaya. Even Liber’s gaze shifted, the memory slowly coming back to me.
It had been just another day with Ceres’ gifts. Yet that day, she brought us scales. Which made me and Liber stare at her with furrowed brows.
“What? You don’t keep Blue’s or Styx’s scales?”
“Of course not.”
“Why would I even keep Styx’s scales?”
“For luck! Obviously. Here, take some—I have plenty.”
It was useless. It was stupid.
And Jaya made a pendant out of it.
“…none of us can choose whose blood we inherit, or its history. Yet this is the true beauty of life, isn’t it? To create our own story, and pave our own path.” His voice was warm, kind, gentle. But it was the trust in that blue gaze that made something tighten around my heart. Something heavy, uncomfortable. “And you may not have figured out how to walk this path together with Connie. But you will—I know it. So don’t stop writing your history together, not now.”
As the necklace fell on top of Ceres’ palm, her lips began to tremble, new tears brimming in her eyes. Whispers spread across the classroom, some accompanied by scornful grins or pitiful eyes. Yet when Ceres closed her grip on the necklace and whipped her tears, the next moment I saw her eyes—
“Professor Hesper! Connie is one of nature’s greatest marvels. He and I will participate in the Practical Flight and the Taming Challenges, and we will win for sure!”
That trust in Jaya’s eyes, I could see burning in hers too.
“She calls a wingless four-legged a marvel?”
“Careful, she may send her family after you.”
“With her grades, she is not part of the main branch, I can guarantee you this.”
As our classmates started to voice their thoughts, Ceres clenched both fists and opened her mouth, her still failing to find her words.
“If you all know she is a Lanikas, this means there is no excuse, right?”
It took me longer to accept that was my voice than to simply realize the fact. And when most eyes were on me, it took me a bit more to acknowledge what I was trying to do.
“This is a vote to choose the best representatives so we can win against the other classes—it’s not for fun and games. If you are so certain you can get better representation in a Taming Challenge than someone from House Lanikas, or have a dragon who got into the highlights being not even four years old, then this means our class either has no self-awareness or thinks of Ergos Academy as a fancy playhouse. Either way, it’s pathetic.”
I could see some of them were shocked. Many were outraged, a few just averted their gazes.
Yet before I joined hands with Arke and lost my patience with their “arguments”, I met the professor’s gaze.
“Since this is taking too long, can I use the rest of Ceres’ time?”
As some students began to protest, the purple-haired woman raised her hand, silencing them in a heartbeat. “If she has nothing else to add, you may.”
Ceres gave me a thumbs-up, her smile bright and gleeful.
And somehow, that made that feeling in my heart get lighter.
“Practical Flight, History, Flight Theory, and Tactical Gear. My memory is better than most of you, I ranked first in the writing session in the admission exam, my mount has better stamina and brains than most of your dragons, and I raced against sophomores and placed 5th—with Alantra Harris in the roster. I can get our class in the top three, guaranteed.”
For the remaining minutes of Ceres’ timer, I gave a quick evaluation of both riders and mounts of every student who tried to argue they were better than me.
When Liber’s turn finally came, the boy wasted no time or breath. ‘If your petty egos are saying you can rank better than me, debate that among yourselves. Leave me out of this’, was all he said.
The votes were anonymous, done through our black crystals. Each Challenge would only have three representatives of each class. There were thirty-eight students in our class, and almost thirty wanted to participate in Practical Flight.
Ceres didn’t ask who I voted for. She just looked at me, her finger holding the new pendant close to her heart.
“Thank you, Vex.”
Her whisper was filled with gratitude. Affection.
Trust.
“…I stated facts. That’s what all this mess was about, no?”
Yet somehow, it was Liber’s gaze that got to me. The gray eyes focused not on the boy’s notes or books, but my own. Eyes that felt too knowing, as if daring me to contest their claim.
Ceres’ “friendship” is helpful to me. Her family is useful.
This "relationship" still has its value.
And that was the one fact I knew I could trust.
Hopefully, you guys enjoyed this chapter as well!! Was debating if maybe I should break the chapter in two........but I wanted the next one to be about the SPORTS FESTIVAL ?＼(￣▽￣)／? (it's an Interclass event, but for all that matters, it's a Sports Festival arc).
Also, check out this SPACE OPERA SERIES!! You may like it :3
?? Even gods need to be held sometimes
What to Expect:
- An epic, multi-book space opera with a large found family and multiple POVs.
- A powerful but emotionally vulnerable protagonist with chaotic powers he struggles to control.
- Strong, capable, and sometimes morally gray women.
- High stakes, cosmic threats, and detailed world-building.
What NOT to Expect:
- LitRPG/System elements
- Lone wolf power fantasy
- A story that is only about romance
This story contains mature themes, explicit sexual content, and graphic violence. It is not suitable for readers under the age of 18.
90+ Chapters in the first month
500,000+ words already written and backlogged